How the prequel duels could have been better

[fortyninerfan2010]

If you watch closely, there are a TON of the lightsaber spins we're used to in this video, such as the Obi-Ani. But the focus is drawn away from the spins, so you only notice them peripherally. (Oh and this is how you do a fight against your dad with a recently severed right arm)

Wu Xia - Final Fight (China Version)

Regarding the prequels, some liked the duels for their flashiness, but it was also a lot like watching some guys spinning lightsabers in circles at each other.
There was no weight to the fight, no sense of rhythm or dread. It was just fast fast fast spinning.

But you can have your flashy flourishes but still make the fight impactful. Mix fast and slow, and take the focus away from the spins. And add external factors that make each flourish and attack have a meaning and progress the fight/story.

[shiro]

I need to find the ending now. :P

[wolf10100]

An interesting opinion for sure however imo, this is not true.

TPM did suffer from a few issues with the final fight where you can tell that the swong was never going to hit the oponent but the oponent still ducks or dodges the attack etc.

AOTC did a better job with this and placed emotion back into the screen. The reason why you sometimes get close ups where you just see flashes is simply to display facial emotion and produce dialog (even if the dialog did suck in places)

ROTS also used close ups to aid in showing some important facial expressions and dialog. If i take the final scene as the biggest example as that has many spins in it, the purpose of the spins was never about making it look "cool" or "flashy". The idea behind these is about attempting to be un-predictable in your next libe of attack
 (Being that the force gives you reactions that take effect with seeing things just before they happen). This idea was taken from the old arts of the samurai.

Any one who owns the full 9 disc special edition blu-ray also has access to all the information i have just explained

Just my 2 cents

[Boxster]

I need to find the ending now. :P

Same here!

[fortyninerfan2010]

Oh, yeah the clip cut off the last half of the fight. He uses a bunch of reverse grip spins later in the fight. Here's the whole movie :)
Donnie Yen - Dragon (Wu Xia) - 2011 English Subs

Hey wolf, thanks for jumping into the discussion :) In regards to fight scenes I really do believe one's appreciation is very subjective.
However, that is my point about the spins. If you watch the clip, the spins are all there (potentially argued as a diversionary tactic), but they aren't highlighted in the fight in the same way they are in the Prequels. And there's almost no dialogue in the clip.

Regarding ROTS, I agree that they split it up more with dialogue, and definitely there was more emotional impact in terms of Master vs Disciple and knowing Anakin was turning evil. But I felt like that was more the impact of an amazingly emotional story carrying the fight choreography and not the other way around. To me the dialogue felt very out of place in the context of the fight. It broke up any rhythm. Like it was two separate scenes one of dialogue and one of fighting that were spliced together.

I haven't watched AOTC since the it first came out...mostly in order to pretend it never existed. ::) But I just rewatched the final fight (which I had good memories of b/c: YODA and no mention of sand). And yeah they have close ups and some dialogue. But wow it was just horrendous. It felt like Lucas gave up half way through mapping the choreography and went home.

[Green Ranger]

One of my favorite duels has always been when Obi-wan is unleashed from the hallway after seeing his Master die before his eyes. The connections and swings at Darth Maul were so intense and fast, it gives me chills when I watch it.

[Jotun22]

One of my favorite duels has always been when Obi-wan is unleashed from the hallway after seeing his Master die before his eyes. The connections and swings at Darth Maul were so intense and fast, it gives me chills when I watch it.

I agree with you 100%. To counter OP's post, that there didn't seem to be any dread or any weight to the fight. After Qui-Gon was cut down by Maul, Obi-Wan was in a rage that totally showed depth of emotion and had a lot of weight to the fight.